HISTORY (HIST)Division of Social Sciences
Division of Social Sciences - Adm

HIST
1015
- Topics and Problems in World History
(HIST)
(4.0 cr [max 8.0 cr]; A-F only, fall, spring, every year) Examination of special topics in world history. Course is built around specific topics, such as genocide in the 20th century or global approaches to environmental history, and emphasizes how historians work, pose questions, use sources, and engage in debate.

HIST
1111
- Introduction to World History
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; =[HIST 1101, HIST 1102]; fall, spring, every year) Methods, themes, and problems in the study of world history.

HIST
1301
- Introduction to U.S. History
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, every year) Methods, themes, and problems in the study of the history of the United States.

HIST
1402
- Gender, Women, and Sexuality in American History
(HDIV)
(4.0 cr; fall, spring, offered periodically) Themes and methods in the history of women in the United States. Topics may include women in the colonial era; American Indian, African American, and immigrant women; sex roles; women and work, family, politics, the law, and religion.

HIST
1501
- Introduction to East Asian History: China, Japan, and Korea before 1800.
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, offered periodically) Examination of the social, political, economic, technological, and cultural changes in East Asia before 1800. Possible sub-themes include the rise of the Confucian world order, the spread of Buddhism, and East Asian interactions with the outside world. Discussion of changing perceptions of gender.

HIST
1811
- A History of You(th)
(IC)
(4.0 cr; Prereq-new college student in their first semester of enrollment at UMM; fall, offered periodically) Why does the behavior of young people attract so much attention and anxiety? Why does the stage between childhood and a fully recognized adulthood carry such significance in our collective consciousness? Engage in a historical analysis of what youth has signified, using source materials from Plato to pop culture. Along the way, engage chronologically with the emergence of the categories of childhood and youth and thematically with the relationship between youth and a multitude of social categories and phenomena (for example, politics, media, consumption, and sexuality). Requires extensive reading, active classroom participation, and the completion of a research project and presentation with both individual and group components.

HIST
1812
- FIRE!: An introductory Seminar to American Environmental History
(IC)
(4.0 cr; Prereq-new college student in their first semester of enrollment at UMM; fall, offered periodically) One of the primary ways in which people have manipulated their environments has been through the burning of fossil fuels. Indigenous people, for instance, used fire to clear land, to improve soil quality, and to drive game. Coal powered the Industrial Revolution and oil provided the energy necessary for the Automobile Age. The impact of using energy in this way is today obvious. This course is organized around the topic of fire and uses this theme to examine core issues in American Environmental History. Topics might include: American Indian peoples and fire, burning and early agriculture, coal and industrialization, the Age of the Automobile, incineration and the problem of waste, and forest arson as a mode of political protest.

HIST
1816
- Explaining the Inexplicable: 20th Century Genocides
(IC)
(2.0 cr; Prereq-new college student in their first semester of enrollment at UMM; fall, offered periodically) Examination of a couple of the contemporary world's largest and most important dilemmas. Why did we see all the now familiar campaigns of mass murder based on racial and ethnic hatred in the last century, a time of incredible scientific progress? Why, in addition, have we been so slow to learn from this experience? Why, in short, have we been so unsuccessful in honoring our pledge of "never again?" Through history, memoir, and film, examine these questions and try to understand and answer them from both an historical and a moral perspective.

HIST
1817
- Introduction to American Political History and Television
(IC)
(2.0 cr; Prereq-new college student in their first semester of enrollment at UMM; fall, offered periodically) Introduction to the role that television has played (and continues to play) within American political history. As one of the most powerful forms of communication in the United States, television has impacted how Americans view their political leaders and their policies. Topics include political advertising, satire and comedy programming, the news, and children's programming.

HIST
1818
- Environmental History of Latin America
(IC)
(2.0 cr; Prereq-new college student in their first semester of enrollment at UMM; fall, offered periodically) Examination of human interaction with the natural environment in Latin America and how these interactions have shaped the region's social, cultural, political, and economic history. Considers historical and contemporary environmental challenges and people's responses to them. Possible topics include: the Columbian Exchange, the Amazon, economic development, ecotourism, indigenous rights, and urbanization.

HIST
2003
- Public History
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; spring, offered periodically) Introduction to the many ways historians conduct research and present historical topics to public audiences. Public historians, who typically come from a traditional academic discipline, utilize their knowledge in such public settings as museums, archives, historic sites, historical societies, and federal agencies. Examine a number of themes ranging from oral histories and historical reenactments to websites and electronic media. Explore what is public history, who practices it, the role of audience, the tension between history and memory, and the ethical concerns that influence public history practice. A particular emphasis is the representation of racial and ethnic communities and the controversies that have emerged in public history practice and scholarship about the representation of "the other."

HIST
2251
- American Indians and the United States: A History
(HDIV)
(4.0 cr; spring, every year) The experience of the original Americans and their interaction with later immigrants.

HIST
2252
- Comparative Indigenous History: Beyond Native America
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; =[AMIN 2252]; fall, offered periodically) Same as AmIn 2252. Explore indigenous experiences with settler colonialism in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and sub-Saharan Africa. With special attention to issues of race, labor, gender, education, and movements for decolonization, place the indigenous histories of Morris and Minnesota within a global context. [Note: no credit for students who have received credit for AmIn 1701 or Hist 1701]

HIST
2352
- The U.S. 1960s
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, even academic years) History of the United States in the 1960s. Backgrounds to the 1960s; political and cultural issues of the decade; the Kennedy promise, civil rights and other movements, Vietnam war, counterculture, conservative backlash, and legacy.

HIST
2441
- The United States and the Great War
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; summer, offered periodically) Presentation of a highly integrated picture of the American experience in World War I. Part of the focus is on the military experience, although approached from the perspective of average sailors and soldiers. More of the emphasis is on the home front and how the war at home encouraged the emergence of a new, more powerful, federal state while simultaneously inviting attacks on civil liberties and ethnic culture. Follow the impact of war through the post-war Red Scare and into the 1920s and explore how it ushered in a new period in American life but one rife with political and cultural contradictions.

HIST
2451
- The American West
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; =[HIST 3451]; fall, even academic years) Overview of the history of the American West up to the 21st century. While many scholars have argued that the "West" was merely a necessary process of national expansion, others argue that it is a very significant region--the most culturally and ecologically diverse region in the country. Discussion of these major historical interpretations of the American West and examination of how people have understood this vast region as a cultural icon of national identity. Work through various definitions of the West and identify how political issues of the environment, international borderlands, and gender and race relations have significantly influenced the United States for many generations. Through lectures, readings, and discussion, examine Western history chronologically while also covering other major themes including federalism, the mythic West, tourism, ranching and agriculture, urban and suburban areas, film, and religion.

HIST
2452
- Minnesota History
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, spring, offered periodically) Examination of the social, cultural, and political history of Minnesota with emphases on American Indian and European-American conflict, immigration and ethnicity, the development of political culture, and the changing nature of regional identity.

HIST
2551
- Modern Japan
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, spring, offered periodically) The history of Japan from the foundation of the Tokugawa Shogunate until the present. Special attention to issues of gender, nationalism, and modernity.

HIST
2552
- History of Modern China
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; spring, offered periodically) Study of the history of China from the foundation of the Qing dynasty in the 1600s until the present. Special attention to issues of gender, nationalism, and modernity.

HIST
2608
- History of Cuba: From Colony to Revolutionary State
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, spring, offered periodically) A survey of the history of Cuba from Spanish colonization to the present, with emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. Topics include colonization, slavery, imperialism, nationalism, and the Cuban Revolution.

HIST
2609
- History of Brazil: From Sugar to Sugar Cars
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, even academic years) Examination of Brazilian history from Portuguese colonization in the early 1500s to its current status as a growing world economic power. Topics include Portuguese colonial rule, independence and the creation of the Brazilian Empire in the nineteenth century, the end of the Brazilian monarchy and the emergence of the oligarchic republic, the rise of the populist state in the mid-twentieth century, military dictatorship during the Cold War, and the return to democracy and Brazil's rise to world-power status. Additional topics include the Amazon and environmental history, indigenous history, Afro-Brazilian history, the U.S.-Brazilian relationship from a historical perspective, Brazilian economic development, how Brazilians are coping with the socioeconomic changes in their society, and how they perceive their role in the world.

HIST
2704
- Gender, Women, and Sexuality in Medieval Europe
(SS)
(4.0 cr; spring, odd academic years) Analysis of the history of European women and gender systems as constructed during the Middle Ages (c. 500-1500).

HIST
2708
- Gender, Women, and Sexuality in Modern Europe
(IP)
(4.0 cr; fall, spring, offered periodically) Examination of the forces that have shaped the lives of European women since 1600 and analysis of how changes in the structures of power and authority--religious, political, social, familial--affected the choices available to them. Students engage critically with the question of what bringing gender to the forefront of the study of European history has to teach them. Students gain an understanding of many of the underpinnings of American society, which has been deeply affected by European patterns of thought about women and their place in the world.

HIST
3008
- The Making of the Islamic World
(HDIV)
(4.0 cr; fall, even academic years) Examines the origins, spread, and impact of Islamic civilization from the 6th through 15th centuries with particular emphasis upon political, religious, and intellectual developments.

HIST
3101
- Renaissance and Reformation
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; spring, odd academic years) Examination of western European history and historiography between 1350 and 1600 with emphasis on cultural "renaissances" and religious "reformations."

HIST
3102
- Early Modern Europe
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, spring, offered periodically) Survey of historical developments in Europe from about 1350 through the 18th century.

HIST
3161
- The Enlightenment
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; spring, odd academic years) The intellectual ferment of the Enlightenment has been given the credit and the blame for all things modern--from the concept of human rights and the democracies it has engendered to the subversion of those rights in the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century. Exploration of the ideas of the Enlightenment and their political context and attempt to answer the question of how such an important development in human history can be viewed in such contradictory ways.

HIST
3162
- The Scottish Enlightenment: Markets, Minds, and Morals
(IP)
(4.0 cr; =[PHIL 3162]; summer, offered periodically) Same as Phil 3162. Study of the philosophy and history of the Scottish Enlightenment. Focus on its original setting through analysis and discussion of primary texts and scholarly interpretations, guest lectures, and small-group discussions with recognized experts in the study of the Scottish Enlightenment. Includes visits to historically significant cities and sites.

HIST
3176
- Berlin as a Site of History
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; A-F only, summer, offered periodically) A study abroad course focusing on the intersection of space and history in the vibrant city of Berlin, Germany. Themes include Berlin in flows of capital and power, Berlin as a site of everyday life, and Berlin as a site of historical memory and contests over it. No knowledge of German is necessary.

HIST
3177
- Virtue and Vice in Amsterdam: From the Golden Age to the Global Age
(IP)
(4.0 cr; summer, offered periodically) The "Golden Age" of the 17th-century Dutch Republic and the post-World War II period in the Netherlands represent times of intensive economic growth, linked closely to international involvement, and of struggles to maintain social stability. Definitions of vice and virtue in both periods have been deeply intertwined with the experiences of prosperity and the challenges it has posed to established forms of governance, as well as understandings of what constitutes membership in a national community and who merits it. Topics include religious identities of the early modern period; social welfare practices of the Dutch Republic; the Dutch East India Company, maritime prosperity, and colonial exploitation; the Dutch Republic as a refuge for radical thought; Jews in Amsterdam; social movements since World War II, including GLBT rights; postcolonial politics and immigration; Islam in the Netherlands; the legality of prostitution and the official tolerance of drugs.

HIST
3181
- The Study of History: Schools, Rules, and Tools
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; Prereq-#; spring, every year) Introduction to historical research methods and 20th-century historiography. How to evaluate and employ primary and secondary sources, to cite evidence, and to develop critical historical arguments in a research project. Exploration of key transformations within the field of history, surveying various schools of thought, and assessing the specific advantages and challenges of the approaches. Topics may include Freudian and Marxist interpretations, the Annales school, quantitative analysis, anthropological and sociological approaches, and gender and postcolonial theory. [Note: no credit for students who have received cr for Hist 2001]

HIST
3204
- Nazi Germany
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, odd academic years) History of Nazi Germany. Social and political origins, Nazi rule in the 1930s, the "final solution," World War II, and Germany's attempt to assess this era in its history.

HIST
3207
- The Crusades
(IP)
(4.0 cr; spring, even academic years) Explores the historical contexts and consequences of the European Crusades between the 11th century and early modern period, including the perspective of European Jews, Turkish and Arabic Muslims, and Byzantine and Near Eastern Christians.

HIST
3209
- Modern Germany
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; spring, odd academic years) Examination of German history from the development of German national ideas through unification and consolidation of the modern German state in 1871 and through its re-unification at the end of the 20th century. Examines one of the most fascinating and tumultuous periods in German and European history, why the attempt to understand the German past has occupied so many historians, and why the debates surrounding that attempt have been so contentious. Sources include writings by established historians of Germany, novels, films, and music.

HIST
3211
- Modern France
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, even academic years) Examination of French culture and history from the Revolution (1789) to the present. The ways in which successive governments, from Napoleon's empire through the Fifth Republic, have come to terms with legacies of the Revolution such as national citizenship, individual rights, and the politicization of women.

HIST
3213
- Modern Britain: Society, Culture and Politics
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; spring, offered periodically) Examination of the history of modern Britain and its empire since the 17th century. Topics include the growth of Britain as a world power through imperialism and industrialization, the challenges of shaping a modern polity, and the 20th-century shifts that reduced its global profile.

HIST
3303
- Creation of the American Republic
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, spring, offered periodically) Examination of the history of the United States from the beginning of the Seven Years' War in 1754 to the end of the War of 1812. The origins of the nation and the political, cultural, and social changes that accompanied the birth and early years of the American Republic. Focus on the political and social history of the American Revolution. Other topics include women in revolutionary America, the retrenchment of slavery, indigenous people and early Indian policy, religion and revivalism, the constitutional crisis, and the early presidencies.

HIST
3304
- Race, Class, and Gender in American History
(HDIV)
(4.0 cr; fall, spring, offered periodically) The themes of race, class, and gender are explored in-depth throughout the semester. Students gain a new awareness about historiography and theories that highlight this growing subfield of American history. Prominent topics covered in lecture and readings include colonization, slavery, suffrage, immigration, sovereignty, labor, ghettoization, art, literature, culture, and the rise of self-determination. Study the intersection of race, class, and gender relations through multiple perspectives of region, ideology, political-economy, and religion.

HIST
3351
- The U.S. Presidency Since 1900
(SS)
(4.0 cr; fall, even academic years) History of the 20th-century U.S. presidency. Brief consideration of the Presidency before 1900, analysis of performance of presidents since 1900 in roles of chief executive, commander-in-chief, chief diplomat, and chief of state during an era of enlarged governmental functions at home and world power abroad.

HIST
3353
- World War II
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, spring, offered periodically) Origins, political and military aspects of the war in Europe and Asia, domestic mobilization, the Holocaust and Atomic Bomb, aftermath.

HIST
3356
- Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1974
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, spring, offered periodically) Background of the Civil Rights movement, emergence of the theory and practice of nonviolence, various Civil Rights groups, role of women, legislative and other accomplishments of the movement, its aftermath and influence.

HIST
3359
- Native Strategies for Survival, 1880-1920
(HDIV)
(4.0 cr; fall, odd academic years) Exploration of the events and policies that sought to eliminate American Indian communities and cultures and the strategies that American Indians developed to survive. Students gain insight into a pivotal time for the "incorporation" of the United States and ongoing tensions between unity and diversity that characterize the nation's political economy and social structure. Paradoxes under scrutiny include the degree to which policies claiming to emancipate actually imprisoned and prisons became homelands.

HIST
3360
- American Experience in World War II
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; Prereq-jr or sr or #; spring, offered periodically) Seven former American Presidents were veterans of World War II and over 175,000 books have been published on this subject alone. Arguably this one event has commanded more attention by writers, filmmakers, and academics than any other modern historical event. For decades historians have also debated the significance of World War II. After the conclusion of the war, the worldwide devastation and loss of life had reached apocalyptic proportions and new military technologies, like the atom bomb, forever altered the American experience. Scientists and intellectuals, such as Albert Einstein, emerged as new celebrities. Literally every sector of American society and culture had been transformed by World War II. Investigate these questions and more throughout the semester. It is important to note that this course is not a strict military history of the European and Pacific campaigns. Instead, the purpose of this class is to challenge students to grapple with the historic origins and legacies of the war.

HIST
3361
- An Environmental and Geographic History of the United States
(ENVT)
(4.0 cr; fall, spring, offered periodically) A broad examination of how humans interacted with their natural world throughout American history. Combined emphasis on cultural ecology (the study of how various cultural groups shaped the American landscape) with political ecology (the role of the nation's political economy in driving environmental change). Possible topics include: the Columbian Exchange, European and American Indian conflict, Thoreau and the creation of an environmental ethic, the slaughter of the bison as an ecological tragedy, urbanization and environmental racism, conservation as a political movement and the development of environmental policy, eco-feminism, American religion and the environment, the politics of global climate change. [Note: no credit for students who have received cr for Hist 2361]

HIST
3453
- The American Presidency, 1789-1900
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, spring, offered periodically) Growth and development of the U.S. presidency during its first century. Emphasis on selected presidencies such as those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Abraham Lincoln, and William McKinley.

HIST
3455
- American Immigration
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; spring, offered periodically) The role of voluntary migration in U.S. history from the late 18th century to the present. Emphases on settlement, ethnicity, nativism, transnational issues, and immigration law. Possible topics include European immigrants and "whiteness," restriction of immigration from Asia, ethnicity and U.S. foreign and military policy, and the varieties of immigration, legal and undocumented, since 1965.

HIST
3456
- History of Religion in America
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, spring, offered periodically) The history of religion in American life from the perspective of ordinary Americans. Religious diversity receives special emphasis. Topics may include New England witchcraft, the First and Second Great Awakenings, American Indian belief systems, nativism and Anti-Catholicism, religion and politics, immigrant religion and new fundamentalist movements.

HIST
3464
- History of Suburban America
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, spring, offered periodically) Overview of development of the suburban landscape within the United States, from the beginning of the 19th century to the present, with primary focus on post-World War II development. Topics include the importance of nature to the idea of a suburb, the role of technology (such as streetcars and automobiles) in development, racial and ethnic diversity and exclusion within the landscape, the effect of suburbs on gender roles, and the political and cultural relationship between the city and the suburb. Examine how the suburb is depicted within popular culture, including films, television programming, music, and literature of the past and present.

HIST
3465
- History of the American Family
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; spring, offered periodically) Examination of the history of the American family from the colonial period to the present. One focus is demographic and explores changes in family size and structure due to economic change and modernization. Also examined are altered relationships within families, as the nuclear family became more democratic and affectionate, as the position of women within American life changed, as people began to practice different methods of family limitation, and as childhood and adolescence were recognized as distinctive life course phases. Additional topics include the role of class and cultural differences in defining family systems, shifting gender and sexual norms, the rise of unrelated individuals, and the aging of the population, etc.

HIST
3466
- History of Twentieth-Century Popular Culture of the United States
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; spring, offered periodically) Examination of the ways in which the many types of 20th century popular culture in the United States have had immense historical significance. Far from simply being "entertainment," pop culture examples such as rock music, hit television shows, and Internet memes have affected American history. Topics may include the impact of radio, moral panics over sex and violence, entertainment as wartime propaganda, social networking, and popular culture as a satirical weapon.

HIST
3561
- The Pacific War in East Asia
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, offered periodically) Political, military, social, and cultural history of the Pacific war in East Asia. Exploration of different perspectives and wartime experiences in China, Japan, and the Japanese empire (including Korea). Emphasis on the impact of the war as a watershed period in the history of East Asia. Topics may include the Rape of Nanjing, the bombing of Hiroshima, the Manchurian Incident, and the creation of Manchukuo, collaboration, and resistance, wartime mobilization and propaganda, Zen nationalism, and comparisons with Nazi Germany and Vichy France. Films, memoirs, and fiction will augment academic texts.

HIST
3601
- Great Books in Latin American History
(IP)
(4.0 cr; fall, every year) A look at Latin American history through great books.

HIST
3612
- Social Revolution in 20th-Century Latin America
(HIST)
(4.0 cr; fall, offered periodically) Examination of social revolution in 20th-century Latin America. Particular attention paid to social revolution in Mexico, Bolivia, Cuba, and Nicaragua. Populism, democratic attempts at social revolution, and counterrevolution in other parts of Latin America also considered. Key issues include imperialism, capitalism, communism, nationalism, and the Cold War.

HIST
3613
- U.S.-Latin American Relations in Historical Perspective
(IP)
(4.0 cr; fall, spring, offered periodically) Examination of the history of U.S.-Latin American relations from U.S independence to the present. Focuses on the political, economic, social, and cultural relationships between the two.

HIST
3614
- Race and Ethnicity in Latin America
(HDIV)
(4.0 cr; fall, spring, offered periodically) Explore issues of race and ethnicity in Latin America from a historical perspective. Covering the colonial and national periods, examine how ideas of race and ethnicity have intersected with political, economic, and socio-cultural developments in the region. Consider the ways in which race, class, and gender have intersected in Latin America.

HIST
3993
- Directed Study
(1.0 - 5.0 cr [max 10.0 cr]; fall, spring, every year) An on- or off-campus learning experience individually arranged between a student and a faculty member for academic credit in areas not covered in the regular curriculum.